THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER

By Odd Reidar Boye, IKM Testing, Norway

As this is the first PPSA newsletter since the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in February, I would like to introduce myself as the new President of the PPSA. Having been through all (!) of the earlier and available newsletters from PPSA, it seems like I am the first Norwegian to hold this prestigious position, so I see this as a bit of a national achievement!

It is with honour and appreciation I take over the presidency after Danny Molyneux, who has inspired us all with his dedication to both the pipeline pigging industry and the Young Pipeline Professionals (YPP) network around the globe. He will however (and luckily) be staying on the Board for another period as Director (to be read Grand Old Father), keeping us in line mainly – but I guess also ensuring continuity of work and direction.

I would also like to thank the Directors who stepped off the Board; Andy Caley of Baker Hughes and Jan Frowijn of Rosen Group. Thank you for your contribution over the years! Furthermore, the newcomers of the Board deserve a big welcome; Neil Mackay of STATS Group and Ben Bergius from NDT Global.

Lastly - but not at all least - I will like to thank Neil McKnight from T.D.Willamson for taking the position as Vice President in the current period. He will be taking over the presidency in February 2025 and has already shown his dedication by reflected insight and good suggestions around PPSA's role in the future pipelines and pigging industry. Looking forward to the cooperation!

As a summary of the year so far, the annual Pipeline Pigging and Integrity Management (PPIM) Conference took place in Houston in February. Being my first time at the PPIM, and as a Norwegian with background primarily from subsea pipelines, it was very interesting and educational to see and learn about the range and variety of solutions applied in connection with onshore pigging! PPSA was (naturally) present with our own stand at the conference, cleverly and very swiftly organised and put in place by our highly inventive Diane Cordell after our usual stand was lost in storage in Houston.

The annual PPSA Golf Tournament in Houston, this time at the Wildcat Golf Club, was held the day prior to PPIM. Thanks to the sponsors, members and participants for making this a great success once more! It resulted in raising $4K USD for young pipeliner projects.

Moving to Europe, the Pipeline Technology Conference (PTC) was held in Berlin in April. PPSA was present with our information stand, arriving as planned this time. During the event PPSA also sponsored the YPP get-together venue, as we did on the last PTC.

The next exhibition and conference event for PPSA will be at the IPC in Calgary in September. With the title "Fuelling the Future" and many technical tracks, we look forward to an interesting week! Hope to see and meet many of you members there!

Lastly, we (Diane in particular) would like to announce that the Call for Papers and Tutorials for our own PPSA Seminar is now open. The Seminar is taking place on 19th/20th November in Aberdeen, UK. New to this year is the Young Pipeliner Presentation Competition on the 19th of November 2024! As indicated above, we will also be continuing with Tutorials on the day before the conference AND we will of course repeat last year's success with Scottish Ceilidh dancing during the Seminar Dinner on the evening of the 20th of November! You are all welcome!